


Sweet Kid

by Waddles889



Series: Steve Harrington's Babysitting Extravaganza [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Babysitter Steve Harrington, Coming Out, Gay Will Byers, Gen, Period-Typical Homophobia, joyce wants steve to babysit because hes a good babysitter, q slur(its referencing when it was used in a s1 episode), will byers is good at art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 04:44:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12976209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waddles889/pseuds/Waddles889
Summary: Joyce had started asking Steve to watch Will. Now, Steve was fond of the kid, but he’d never really spent much time alone with any of them besides Dustin yet. He had absolutely no idea what to talk about with him.***In which Steve tries his best to connect with Will, and it ends in a heart-to-heart.





	Sweet Kid

**Author's Note:**

> i've been thinking about this one for a while so i wanted to add it soon! also somehow this ended up being like exactly 1600 words and that is a miracle.

Since Jonathan had started going out with Nancy- they  _ said  _ they weren’t together, but everyone could see through their lies- Joyce had started asking Steve to watch Will.

Now, Steve was fond of the kid, but he’d never really spent much time alone with any of them besides Dustin yet. He had absolutely no idea what to talk about with him. Still, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Joyce opened it. “Oh! Steve, good timing. I’m just on my way to work. Come in!”

Steve smiled and stepped inside, looking around at the house. It was still being cleaned up, a few crayon drawings still scattered across the floor. Will was nowhere to be seen, presumably in his room.

He bounced once or twice on his heels, tapping his leg. Joyce grabbed her keys from the table and was almost out the door when she paused. “Oh, bed time’s 9:30, help yourself to anything in the fridge, emergency numbers are on the table!”

Steve shot her a thumbs up. “Got it,” he said. “Don’t worry Ms. Byers, I’m a pretty decent babysitter.”

“Right, right, yes. I’ll be back… when I’m back. Thanks!” She shut the door behind her. 

Okay. What was he supposed to do now? Um. Steve wandered into the living room before it occurred to him to announce his presence. “Hey, Will! It’s Steve,” he said.

“What? Oh, hi!” A door down the hallway opened, revealing the delicate figure of Will Byers. “Hi, Steve.”

An awkward silence fell over the two of them. Steve rubbed the back of his neck. Will shuffled his feet.

“Got a movie you want to watch?” Steve said eventually. Will walked into the living room with his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

Steve sat down on the couch. “Well, what’s your favorite movie?” 

Will thought for a moment. He crouched down in front of the TV, pulling out some of the VHS tapes. He hummed to himself as he looked through his options. Finally, he selected one of them and held it up triumphantly. “I like this one the most, I think.”

_ Superman _

“Oh thank God, I thought I was going to have to watch  _ A New Hope  _ for the fifth time. Your friends  _ really _ like Star Wars.”

Will broke out into a laugh. “Yeah, I love Star Wars, but this one is my favorite.”

Steve grinned. “Well, pop that sucker in, I guess.”

Will pushed the tape into the VCR and set up the TV. The credits started to roll and he groaned.  _ “Someone  _ forgot to rewind,” he said. “Someone meaning probably Jonathan.”

That statement caught Steve so off-guard that he snorted before devolving into laughter. Will looked at Steve with bewilderment but giggled.

Soon, the tape was rewound and the movie was starting. Steve paid attention for the most part, but within about twenty minutes Will had grabbed paper, a pencil, and crayons and started to draw. Hey, at least this meant he could avoid awkwardly trying to socialize with a twelve-year-old for a while.

Will glanced up at Steve with a thoughtful expression. Steve furrowed his brow, but before he said anything, Will had resumed drawing. Steve glanced at the clock.

Oh shit, it was almost 8:00 pm.

“Hey, did you want anything to eat?” Steve asked.

Will paused and thought for a moment. He shrugged. “Whatever works for you,” he said.

“Seriously man, I can make you something if you want. Grilled cheese, soup, something?”

_ “Can  _ you make grilled cheese?”

Steve scoffed, placing a hand on his chest in mock-offense. “Of  _ course  _ I can make grilled cheese! Who do you think I am, some sort of heathen?”

Will looked at him skeptically. “If you don’t destroy the kitchen, then sure.”

Victory!

Steve made his way over to the kitchen and placed his hands on his hips. Alright, this was the hard part.

Where the  _ fuck  _ were all the dishes?

He chewed his lip, checking the cupboards. Aha! Frying pan. After a few more minutes of rummaging through the Byers’ kitchen and he had everything he needed, bread and butter simmering in the pan.

Will poked his head in. “Oh hey, you actually _ do _ know what you’re doing!”

Steve let out a huff and smiled. “Yeah, yeah, Super-Cool-High-School-Dream-Boat Steve Harrington knows how to make grilled cheese. But to be fair,  _ everyone  _ should know how to make grilled cheese. It’s really not too hard.”

Will grinned. He placed his drawings on the table, continuing to color as Steve flipped the sandwich. Steve hummed. Will colored. It was nice.

Triumphantly, Steve placed a plated, incredibly aesthetically-pleasing grilled cheese sandwich in front of Will, who took a hesitant bite. His eyes widened.

“How?”

“I’m just a natural.”

One of the drawings on the table caught his eye. Across the top was scrawled,  _ “Babysitter Steve” _ . A smirk crossed his face and he picked it up, surveying the carefully drawn lines. It was a picture of him, surrounded by the entire Party. They were tiny, messing around like a bunch of crazy toddlers(which wasn’t far off). He had a dishtowel draped over his shoulder, hands on his hips. 

Steve thought he might cry.

“Oh, I almost titled that as Mom Steve,” Will said nonchalantly, taking another bite of the sandwich. Steve snorted.

“I’d prefer babysitter. Babysitters get paid for the shit they put up with.”

The two fell back into another silence, though this one was much more comfortable than the previous. Will kicked his legs back and forth under the table, chewing happily, while Steve cleaned up the kitchen.

Slowly, Will stopped swinging his legs. He chewed sluggishly, swallowing with what seemed like much more effort than it should have been. Steve frowned, keeping an eye on him from his peripheral vision. Will was fixated on something hanging on the wall, tilting his head while his mind wandered.

Steve put the newly washed frying pan back in the cupboard and followed Will’s gaze. One of his drawings was pinned to the wall. It was a picture of Jonathan, holding his camera up to his face. The title, simply his brother’s name, was written in rainbow colors. Lord knows that Jonathan never wears anything colorful, so it was fitting, Steve supposed.

“Hey, um, Steve? Can I… can I ask you something?” Will asked. He was avoiding Steve’s eyes now, expression serious.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Steve responded, leaning against the counter.

Will swallowed. He didn’t look towards Steve. “Did you ever… did you ever call Jonathan… a, um. Did you ever call Jonathan… a… a  _ queer?” _ he stammered. His voice cracked on the last word, like he was both afraid and holding back tears.

Steve felt guilt fill his stomach, weighing it down to his shoes like someone had dropped a bowling ball down his throat. He bit his tongue, hard. “I’m not proud of it. It was… heat of the moment, I guess? I was… I was trying to impress my friends-can I call them friends?” he cut himself off. “No, no, that’s not an excuse. I was a jerk. It was a real dick move, that’s for sure.”

Will nodded, slowly. Steve wished he could see the boy’s face. “Yeah. Okay.”

This was not going well anymore. He had to  _ fix  _ this somehow.

“Will?”

“Hm.”

“I really  _ am  _ sorry. I know you might not take that, which is fair, but I do regret it. I… haven’t told Jonathan yet. I’m too cowardly, I think.”

He fucked this up.

Unsure of what to do, Steve hesitantly resumed his clean-up. Will tapped his fingers on the table. The faucet was turned on again as Steve washed up the plate. Eventually, Will resumed his leg swinging. Steve wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, and so continued to try to swallow the lump in his throat.

Will finally broke the silence.

“You wouldn’t ever  _ hate  _ me, would you?”

Steve frowned. “No, why?”

“Like, even if it was… something you didn’t agree with, you wouldn’t hate me?”

“Kid, are you okay?”

“Steve, please.”

Steve sighed, rubbing his neck. “No, I wouldn’t hate you. You’re a sweet kid, and I’m not gonna lie, you’re up there in my favorites of you shitheads.”

Will seemed to take this as satisfactory. He tapped his fingers some more. “I want to-to tell you something, but you promise you-you won’t hate me?”

A sort of realization dawned on Steve. He had a pretty good idea of what Will was going to say. “I won’t hate you, Will.”

A heavy sigh. More tapping. Leg swinging. Tapping. Swinging. Will blinked hard. “I’m… Well, I… I think I’m.. um. I like… boys?”

Steve pondered how to respond. He had never been good at deep conversations. Will’s ears burned and he ducked his head, hiding his face from Steve. His fingers dug into his arms, but luckily his sleeves absorbed what damage his nails would have done.

“I’m sorry,” Will whispered.

“Oh no, no! No, don’t be sorry, it’s okay! It’s okay,” Steve found himself saying, kneeling down next to the table. Gently, he pulled Will’s nails from his forearms. “If anything, I’m glad you still trusted me enough to tell me, you know?”

Will looked up at him with that same bewildered expression from earlier. Slowly, a smile spread across his face like butter. “Yeah, me too,” he said.

Steve ruffled Will’s hair. He really  _ was  _ a sweet kid.

And as Will returned to his coloring, Steve knew that he was going to defend this kid to the ends of the Earth.

“Thanks, Steve.”

**Author's Note:**

> please tell me if anything seems offensive or anything and i'll try my best to fix it. also please comment i crave that sweet sweet validation. plus, i'll know if you want me to write more!


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